Joshua 5:1 - Meaning and Application

The large camp of Israel, no doubt, made a striking sight in the plains of Jericho, where they had now pitched their tents. “Who can count the dust of Jacob?” That church, which had long been in the wilderness, has now come up from the wilderness, leaning on her beloved. She looks forth like the dawn, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and fearsome as an army with banners.

How fearsome she was in the eyes of her enemies is what we learn here (Joshua 5:1). How fair and clear she was in the eyes of her friends, after the shame of Egypt was taken away, is shown in the following verses. The first thing we see is the fear that came over the Canaanites when Israel crossed the Jordan in a miraculous way (Joshua 5:1). The news quickly spread through the whole land, not just as an amazing event, but as a warning to all the kings and kingdoms of Canaan. Like the fall of Babylon, one messenger hurried after another to carry the shocking news everywhere (Jeremiah 51:31).

We are told what this news did to the kings of the land. Their hearts melted like wax before fire, and they had no spirit left in them. This means that, though the people had already lost heart earlier, as Rahab had said (Joshua 2:9), the kings had kept up their courage until now. They had hoped that, since they already held the land, had many people, and had fortified cities, they could still resist the invaders. But when they heard that Israel had crossed the Jordan, breaking through the very defense of their country, and had crossed by a miracle, with the God of nature clearly fighting for them, their courage failed too. They gave up hope and did not know what to do.

They had good reason to be afraid. Israel was a powerful people, and even more so with God as their leader, the God of all power. Who could stand against them if Jordan itself had been pushed back before them? And God himself put this fear into them, just as he had promised, “I will send my fear before you” (Exodus 23:27). God can make the wicked fear where there is no real danger (Psalm 53:5), and much more where there is such clear reason for fear as there was here. The one who made the soul can, when he chooses, make his sword come near to it and strike it down with terror.

This fear gave Israel an opening to circumcise those among them who had not been circumcised. “At that time” (Joshua 5:2), while the whole country around them was in such panic, God told Joshua to circumcise the Israelites. Then it could be done safely, even in enemy land, because their hearts were melted and their hands were tied. They could not use this chance against Israel, as Simeon and Levi did against the Shechemites, attacking them when they were sore.

Joshua could not have been sure of this on his own. If he had ordered such a general circumcision merely on his own judgment at that moment, he might justly have been blamed for carelessness. The act was good in itself, but from a human point of view it did not seem well timed and could have had dangerous results. But when God commanded it, Joshua was not to listen to human concerns. The one who told them to do it would surely protect them and stand behind them in it.

Now notice first the reason there was for this general circumcision. All who came out of Egypt had been circumcised (verse 5). While they had peace in Egypt, they likely circumcised their children on the eighth day, as the law required. But when their oppression began, especially when the order was made to destroy their male infants, the practice was interrupted. Many among them had become uncircumcised. There had been a general circumcision either during the three days of darkness, as Dr. Lightfoot suggests, or a year later, just before they ate the second Passover at Mount Sinai, as many think, in preparation for that solemn feast (Numbers 9:2). This may be why this is called a second circumcision (verse 2). But the scholar Masius thinks it refers back to the circumcision of Abraham’s household when the ordinance was first given (Genesis 17:23). That first act confirmed the promise of the land of Canaan. This second one was a thankful celebration of the promise being fulfilled.

All who were born in the wilderness had been left uncircumcised. That was part of the judgment on their disobedience, as the repeated sentence later shows (Joshua 5:6). Everyone born after the day when God swore in his wrath that none of that generation would enter his rest was uncircumcised. But how are we to understand this? Had God not commanded Abraham, under a very serious penalty, that every male child of his family should be circumcised on the eighth day (Genesis 17:9-14)? Was not circumcision the sign of the lasting covenant? Had not so much weight been placed on it when they were coming out of Egypt, since the law about the Passover said that no uncircumcised person could eat it and must be treated like a foreigner? Yet under Moses’ own rule, all their children being left uncircumcised for thirty-eight years is hard to explain.

Such a great neglect could not have been general without divine direction. Some think circumcision was left off because it was no longer needed. It had been given as a mark to distinguish Israel from other nations, and in the wilderness, where they were kept separate from all others, there was no need for that sign. Others think they did not regard the command as binding until they settled in Canaan, since the covenant at Mount Sinai said nothing about circumcision. They say it was not really from Moses, but from the fathers (John 7:22), and it was tied especially to the gift of the land of Canaan (Genesis 17:8). Others think God kindly allowed the neglect of this rite because their life in the wilderness was unsettled and full of movement.

It was necessary for a child to rest after circumcision while he was sore, and moving him could be dangerous. So, they say, God desired mercy rather than sacrifice. That reason is usually accepted, but it does not fully satisfy me. Sometimes they stayed in one place for a year (Numbers 9:22), if not longer. And in their travels, the little children, though sore, could have been wrapped warmly and carried gently without harm. They could certainly have been cared for better than mothers in childbirth or recovery. To me, it seems instead to have been a continuing sign of God’s displeasure with them for their unbelief and complaining.

Circumcision was first given as a sign of God’s promise to give Canaan, the land of promise, to Abraham’s family. The patriarchs, the early fathers of Israel, had their sons circumcised in faith, trusting that promise. But when God said in his anger that the men who came out of Egypt would die in the wilderness and never enter Canaan, that sentence was, in effect, marked by the stopping of circumcision. It was a constant reminder that they would not receive the promise that circumcision sealed.

This was a striking sign of God’s displeasure, much like the breaking of the stone tablets of the covenant after Israel made the golden calf. The text does not plainly say God issued a direct ban on circumcision, but Numbers 14:33 hints at it: “Your children shall bear your whoredoms.” Caleb and Joshua, the faithful spies, were likely an exception, since Caleb was promised the land for himself and his children (Deuteronomy 1:36). Joshua is told here to circumcise the people, not his own family. However it happened, circumcision seems to have been neglected in Israel for nearly forty years, which shows it was not absolutely necessary in every age and was not meant to continue forever in the same form. In time, it would be replaced, just as it was temporarily set aside here.

Joshua is told to circumcise Israel again, meaning the nation as a whole, not one person. Why now? First, because the promise that circumcision sealed had now come true. Israel had safely entered Canaan, so they were to admit that God had kept the promise their fathers had doubted. Second, the threat marked by the suspension of circumcision was now fully carried out, since the forty years had ended. “That warfare is accomplished, that iniquity is pardoned” (Isaiah 40:2), and so the covenant sign could be restored.

Why was it not done earlier, while they were still in Moab, or during the thirty days of mourning for Moses, or after they had begun to settle and fortify themselves? Divine wisdom saw the right time as the very next day after crossing Jordan. Human caution would have objected, but God overruled it. He showed that Israel’s camp was not run by ordinary military rules, but by his direct care, and he proved his power by protecting them even when they had made themselves vulnerable.

God also used this moment to strengthen his people’s courage. By renewing the covenant sign, he gave them fresh assurance of victory and of full possession of the land. He also taught them, and us, to begin every great work with God, seeking his favor first. The shedding of blood in circumcision pointed to giving ourselves to God, as a living sacrifice. Then we may expect his blessing on all we do.

The revival of circumcision after so long also helped revive obedience to other commands that had been neglected in the wilderness. Moses had warned them that once they crossed Jordan, they must not live as they had in the desert, but under a stricter order. Many laws were meant to be kept in the land God was giving them (Deuteronomy 6:1; Deuteronomy 12:1). This second circumcision also pointed ahead to spiritual circumcision, the inward change God gives his people when they enter the gospel rest. Since Joshua, Moses’ successor, carried it out, it also points to Jesus, the true one who cuts away sin from the heart, not just from the body. That is the circumcision of the heart (Romans 2:29), called the circumcision of Christ (Colossians 2:11).

Joshua obeyed these orders by arranging for the circumcision of Israel. He did not perform it all himself, but he made sure it was done. It could be completed quickly, since it did not have to be done by a priest or Levite, but by anyone fit for the task. All those who had been under twenty when Israel was numbered at Mount Sinai, and so had not fallen under the death sentence, were circumcised, and the rest could be done soon after. The people had promised to obey Joshua as they had obeyed Moses (Joshua 1:17), and here they showed that obedience by submitting to this painful command, without calling him a bloody ruler, as Zipporah had called Moses a bloody husband because of circumcision.

The place where this happened was given names to keep the memory alive. It was called the hill of the foreskins, likely because the removed foreskins were piled and covered with earth, forming a small mound. It was also called Gilgal, a name linked to the idea of rolling away, from God’s words to Joshua, “This day have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt” (Joshua 5:9). God cares deeply about the honor of his people, because his own honor is tied to theirs. So whatever shame they bear for a time, it will not last forever. In the end, he will roll it away, and he will condemn every tongue that rises against them. Their circumcision rolled away the reproach of Egypt.

By this, they were recognized as the free-born children of God. They had the sign of the covenant in their bodies, and so the shame of their slavery in Egypt was taken away. They had been stained by Egypt’s idolatry, and that was part of their shame. But now that they were circumcised, there was hope that they would be fully devoted to God, and that their attachment to Egypt would be removed.

Their safe arrival in Canaan also rolled away Egypt’s shame. It silenced the bitter claim the Egyptians had made, that the Israelites had been brought out only for evil and that the wilderness had trapped them there (Exodus 14:3). Their long wandering in the wilderness had seemed to confirm that shame. But now, as they entered Canaan in victory, that reproach was gone.

When God brings his people’s salvation to completion, he does more than silence the accusations of their enemies. He also turns those accusations back on the enemies themselves.